Criterion and Longitudinal Validity of a Fixed-Distance Incremental Running Test for the Determination of Lactate Thresholds in Field Settings

• Published in: Journal of strength and conditioning research Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 146 - 151
• Main Authors: Torre, Antonio La, Fiorella, Pierluigi, Santos, Tony M, Faina, Marcello, Mauri, Clara, Impellizzeri, Franco M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Strength and Conditioning Association 01-01-2012; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Ovid Technologies
• Subjects: Adult; Anaerobic Threshold - physiology; Athletes; Exercise Test - methods; Exercise Test - standards; Heart rate; Humans; Lactates - blood; Lactates - metabolism; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Reproducibility of Results; Running; Running - physiology; Velocity
• ISSN: 1064-8011; 1533-4287
• DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31821bc313

La Torre, A, Fiorella, P, Santos, TM, Marcello, F, Mauri, C, and Impellizzeri, FM. Criterion and longitudinal validity of a fixed-distance incremental running test for the determination of lactate thresholds in field setting. J Strength Cond Res 26(1)146–151, 2012—The aim of this study was to examine the criterion validity of 2 lactate thresholds (LTs, intensity corresponding to 1 mmol·L above baseline; onset of blood lactate accumulation, intensity at 4 mmol·L) determined with a fixed-distance incremental field test by assessing their correlation with those obtained using a traditional fixed-time laboratory protocol. A second aim was to verify the longitudinal validity by examining the relationships between the changes in LTs obtained with the 2 protocols. To determine the LTs, 12 well-trained male middle and long distance amateur and competitive runners training from 4 to 7 d·wk (age 25 [5] years, body mass 66 [5] kg, estimated O2max 58.6 [4.9] ml·min·kg, SD in parentheses) performed in 2 separate sessions an incremental running test on the field starting at 12 km·h and increasing the speed by 1 km·h every 1,200 m (FixD test) and an incremental treadmill test in the laboratory starting at 12 km·h and increasing the speed by 1 km·h every 6 minutes. The 2 tests were repeated after 6–12 weeks. A nearly perfect relationship was found between the running speeds at LTs determined with the 2 protocols (r = 0.95 [CI95% 0.83–0.99]; p < 0.001). The correlations between longitudinal changes in LTs were very large (0.78 [0.32–0.95; p = 0.006]). The heart rate corresponding to the LTs were not significantly different. This study showed the criterion and longitudinal validity of LTs determined with a protocol consisting of fixed-distance intervals performed in field setting.